Smoked Out Plum

Hey my loves!

Here is the tutorial from a look I posted on my instagram about a week ago (sorry its a bit late). Summer is on its way for us in Australia and while this might seem like more of a fall type look I believe you can wear it in summer and/or winter. I don’t know about you by for me personally I dont really like to let the season determine what makeup I wear or don’t wear.

So I hope you like this, and read on for more details…

~ STEP 1 ~

As always, I start off by priming my eyes with my trusty Shadow Insurance by Too Faced. Taking MAC Cosmetics Paint Pot in Painterly I apply that on my lid and blending up to my brown bone. Then taking Salted Caramel from the Chocolate Bar Palette by Too Faced and mixing it with a touch of Red Brick by MAC Cosmetics I blend that into and just above my crease – this will be my transition shade and really help to blend and smoke out the darker colour.

~ STEP 2 ~

Taking Sketch by MAC Cosmetics I use a small flat shader brush to really pack that colour onto my lid and up into my crease. I go over this a few times to really intensify the colour.

~ STEP 3 ~

Taking a small tapered blending brush I take my transition shade combination and place that directly into the crease to help smoke out my crease line and making it seamless. I then go back in with Sketch and make the lid more intense.

~ STEP 4 ~

Going over my crease and transition shades with a big fluffy brush I make sure that all lines are blended out smoothly.

~ STEP 5 ~

Taking a small concealer brush I take the pigment Utopia by Makeup Geek and apply it wet (I used MAC Cosmetics Fix Plus Spray) and carefully place it directly into the centre of my lid. I softly blend out the edges into the shadow. This gives the lid a glowing effect.

~ STEP 6 ~

As this is a slightly smokey look I don’t want to apply any liner – I will however, be applying some false lashes. For this look I’ve shown you two options:

1. Flutter Lashes in Chantelle (one of my all time favourite styles)
2. Ardell Lashes in no. 120 Demi Wispies (love how these flair out at the ends)

Ardell 120 Wispies

Once they are on and the glue is dried… I then apply my foundation, powder, contour etc.

To finish off the look I line my lower lash line with Salted Caramel from the Chocolate Bar Palette by Too Faced and mixing it with a touch of Red Brick by MAC Cosmetics. Taking a small detail brush I apply a touch of sketch really close to my lashline to help make this a really smokey look… And there you have it! ALL DONE!

Flutter Lashes – Chantelle

Flutter Lashes – Chantelle

So what do you think? Would you like to see more looks like this?  I hope you’ll stay tuned for some HALLOWEEN LOOKS!

Thanks for stopping by and if you create this look – be sure to load it on instagram and use the hashtag – #makeupbykrystleg

Till next time loves xoxo

A Little Party Never Killed Nobody… Part 1

  

So it was my gorgeous friend Ellie’s hens party this Saturday just gone, and her best friend, now also now a dear friend of mine, planned the whole thing herself and it was awesome – so much fun was had by all. The theme was Great Gatsby/1920’s Flapper and all the girls that went really got into it which was great – some went the traditional route, but not me… I chose to put my own spin on it – naturally 😉 So if you’ve been invited to go to one of these type of themed parties and are looking for something a little different and “non-traditional” then read on to see what I came up.

~ MAKEUP ~

The roaring ’20s were both extremely racy and dramatic. With harsh make-up and short bobbed hair, the ladies of the 1920s were set to make an immense impression upon the world, and upon the history of beauty. According to my research (thank you Google ;)) Make-up was scarce during WWI, but the end of the war and the economic boom of many western countries, resulted in a decadent decade of dressing up, dancing and partying. So I perused some different options and came up with the following inspiration of both modern and traditional:

As you can see the women of the 1920’s embraced the bold eye and bold lip and paired them together. So if you’re interested to see what i came up with and how I did it… READ ON 🙂

~ STEP 1 ~

As I am going to be using bold shades and i want them to last without creasing i am going to need a strong eyeshadow primer/base that also acts as a blank canvas. Here I am using Urban Decay’s Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Eden. I take a small amount (which goes a long way with this product) and place that all over my lid using my Sigma  P80 brush and blend that all over my lid and up to my brow bone. Taking a neutral shade, I blend that all over my lid and up to my brow bone – I used Blanc Type by MAC Cosmetics – This just sets the primer and will make it easier to blend the dark shades I plan to use.

~ STEP 2 ~

I take a warm neutral shade, for my transition colour and place that above my crease – blending it back and forth in a windscreen wiper motions (I chose to go with a mixture of Beaches and Cream with Creme Brûlée both by Makeup Geek). Next I take the light baby pink shade from my Eyes on the 60s palette by BH Cosmetics and using my go to blending brushe, E35 Tapered Blending brush by Sigma and blend that just beneath where I placed my transition shade – using windscreen wiper motions to blend it out thoroughly. As this was to be a very dramatic look I went back in a few times and added more of the baby pink colour till I was happy with the intensity of it.

~ STEP 3 ~

To further intensify this look I chose to go for a red shade, yes I said RED! LOL!  Taking my Crease Brush by Hair and Makeup Addiction and the red shade from the same Eyes on the 60s palette and place that directly into my crease blending it upwards and smoothly into my transition shade. I keep adding to it until I am happy with the intensity of it.

~ STEP 4 ~

After I am happy with the placement of the red shade, I take my NYX Jumbo Pencil in Gold and place that all over my lid, being careful to not take that into my crease. After that I blend out the colour with my finger till it is nice and smooth.

~ STEP 5 ~

Taking a mixture of the light warm brown and the darker brown from the Eyes on the 60s palette I place that over the top of where I put the Gold Jumbo Eye Pencil. I then blend that out and redefine my crease with a clean E45 Small Tapered Blending brush by Sigma. I also take more of the darker shade and concentrate that in my outer V.

~ STEP 6 ~

Next I take Utopia by Makeup Geek (this pigment is AMAZING) and pack it on with my finger – once I am satisfied, I take my Eye Pencil in Black Moon by NARS and line my upper lash line and then smudge it out with my E65 Small Angle brush by Sigma till it has a more smoked out less harsh look. Before I clean up and finish off the look, I got over my transition colour to make sure the red stands out nicely. I also add a bit more of Utopia as I want it really sparkly.

~ FINALE ~

Taking a baby wipe I remove all the fall out from my shadows and pigment – making sure the area is nice and clean ready for foundation. Here I complete my look by curling my lashes using my favourite lash curler by MAC Cosmetics and then apply a couple of coats of Smokey Eye Mascara by Bobbi Brown and Le Volume de Chanel Mascara. Once that has set, I then apply my false lashes (I told you this was an intense look!). The ones I chose are called Girl, You Craazy! by Velour Lashes. I love this brand… you can honestly wear them (provided you take care of them) at least 20 times before having to get a new pair. I actually stop and ask me where I’d got them from. Once they are on and all set, I then take some of the red shade mixed with the dark brown shade from the Eyes on the 60s palette and blend that under my lower lash line with my E21 Small Smudge brush by Sigma and really smoke it out. I apply some the Smokey Eye Mascara by Bobbi Brown on my lower lashes and line my water line with the same Black Moon Eye Pencil by NARS and there you have it! The eyes are done! I then of course applied all my foundation and blush etc. I have also created a little video if you want to check that out also – its fairly basic but you at least you can get an idea of what I’ve been talking about in the steps above…

So I hope you enjoyed this very different and somewhat intense look. I did actually choose to pair this with the Rebel Lipstick by MAC Cosmetics but I forgot to photograph it… SILLY ME! Would love to hear what you think … Next post will be on my hair and how I styled it for this look.

Till next time XOXO

Smoke and Glitter

Today’s tutorial is on a look I came up with that can go from day to night, and has a slight smoked out effect. I feel this will fast become one of my go to day to night smokey looks. It definitely makes blue and green eyes pop! So if you’d like to see how I completed this look READ ON!

~ COLOURS USED ~

Todays look I’ve used all shadows by Makeup Geek and a pressed pigment by MAC Cosmetics called Day Gleam.

~ STEP 1 ~

As always, I start off by priming my eyes with my trusty Shadow Insurance by Too Faced. Then taking the colour Beaches & Cream I using my big fluffy blending brush (E35) I blend that into my crease and all over my lid and all the way up to my brow bone. Taking more of that same colour I concentrate it into the crease and keep blending till I am happy with the colour.

~ STEP 2 ~

Taking the colour Nearly Naked I use a slightly less fluffy blending brush (E25) for more precise shadow placement, and blend that out into my crease and just above. I go in a few times to darken and smoke out the colour more.

~ STEP 3 ~

As I want to really help make my eyes pop, I take the colour Cocoa Bear to deepen the crease further. Using the same brush I used before, I blend the colour out into my crease and onto my inner corner and outer V. With this step, you want to make sure you keep the centre of the lid free of colour – for now…

~ STEP 4 ~

Taking a more precise blending brush (E45) I blend the all the colours together so there are no harsh lines or edges.  this helps to also keep the centre of the lid shadow free.

~ STEP 5 ~

Taking the pressed pigment Day Gleam by MAC Cosmetics, I take my ring finger and lightly swirl it around picking up the colour with my finger and pressing it into the Centre of my lid.

~ STEP 6 ~

Then taking a small crease blending brush (E47) I take the colour Mocha and darken up just the outer V and bring that into just my crease and blend it out. This will help to smoke out the look whilst adding some depth to it as well.

~ STEP 7 ~

I go over the crease again with my big fluffy blending brush and go over the crease and ensure there are no harsh lines. As I want this look to be really smokey I decide not to use a liquid liner but rather an eye pencil (Long-Wear Eye Pencil in Mahogany by Bobbi Brown) and smudge it out using The Liner brush by Hair and Makeup Addiction.  I also decide to take more of Day Gleam and place it into the centre of my lid and right into my inner corner.

~ STEP 8 ~

I curl my lashes with MAC Cosmetics Full Lash Curler and then apply a couple of coats of Smokey Eye Mascara by Bobbi brown (am really loving this at the moment) and finish off my under eye by taking the same eye pencil I used earlier and smudging it with the same liner brush under my whole waterline and then lining my waterline with it. Going over the top of the liner with the colour Cocoa Bear and coating my lower lashes with the same Smokey Eye Mascara.

… FINISHED …

So here you have the finished look. You chould choose to add false lashes if you wish but I just chose to go au natural-ish and just stick with mascara.

Hope you like this one – let me know what you think or if you try it for yourself…

Till next time XOXO

Valentines Day Look 4

Firstly Happy Valentines Day my loves!! I hope you’re having a lovely day no matter what you’re doing. Well, here is the fourth and final look in my Valentines Day series. This is my take on a smokey eye… So if you want to see how I do this read onwards xx

~STEP 1~

As this is a strong look with dark colours I definitely don’t want this look to crease so I prime my eyes with Shadow Insurance by Too Faced Cosmetics. Then taking Crème Brûlée by Makeup Geek on my E45 Small Tapered Blending Brush by Sigma I place this just above my crease and blend thoroughly.

~STEP 2~

Using the same brush I take Cocoa Bear by Makeup Geek and blend into my crease and upwards into where I placed Crème Brûlée. Blend until the two colours transition smoothly.

~STEP 3~

Next I take my Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Eye Pencil in Jet (I am obsessed with this btw – it is the only eyeliner pencil that actually stays put and doesnt smudge underneath my eyes) and roughly line my upper lash line.

~STEP 4~

Taking The Shader Brush from my Hair and Makeup Addiction Luxury Set, I blend the liner over my lid. When doing this make sure to NOT blend it into you crease – stop just before the crease. If you take it further you’re going to end up with too much black, you will lose your transition colours and end up looking like a panda or two burnt holes in a blanket

~STEP 5~

After I have blended the eyeliner over my lid I take Corrupt by Makeup Geek on the same brush The Shader we used to blend in the eyeliner. To place this on the lid I gently pack it on in patting motions.

~STEP 6~

BLEND! This is the key element in making this look work. So I take the same E45 brush we used earlier and take a little more Cocoa Bear and start blending Corrupt and Cocoa Bear together until the two become seamless and transition nicely.

~FINISH~

Once I am happy with the blending of the two colours. I apply my fave mascara – Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus. Then I line my lower lash line with Mocha by Makeup Geek with The Detailer by Makeup and Hair Addiction and add a coat of Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus. Then to lighten my inner corner a bit I add the colour Nylon by MAC Cosmetics with my finger tip and then applied a nude lip using the shade Shy Girl by MAC Costmetics and TA DAAAAA all finished!

So I know this look is a little bold but I hope you like it and if you try it out and like it I would love to hear about it.

Till next time xoxo

Valentines Day Look – No. 2

Hey Loves,

As I mentioned in my previous post – I would be doing 4 looks, so here is my second look. It’s a bit different and possibly not for everyone, but I find this really makes my eyes pop. So if you’re interested to see how I create this look, read on 🙂

~STEP 1~

So as always I start off my priming my eye with my trusty Shadow Insurance by Too Faced Cosmetics. Then taking the colour Red Brick by MAC Cosmetics on my Sigma E25 Blending brush, I blend this into and well above my crease. I keep blending until the colour becomes a softer shade.

~STEP 2~

To deepen my crease – I take Handwritten by MAC Cosmetics on my Sigma E36 Blending brush and blend that directly into my crease.

~STEP 3~

For my lid I wanted a nice bronze colour so I chose my favourite shade – Woodwinked (again) by MAC Cosmetics. Taking my Sigma E35 Blending brush I blend that into and all over my lid. I then take the E36 brush I used earlier and go back over my crease to make sure the colour stays strong.

~STEP 4~

To smoke this look out a bit more I chose to darken my outer V with the shade Espresso by MAC Cosmetics and the same E36 brush used earlier, and concentrate this colour directly into my outer V and taking it a little of the way into my crease but not too far as I want to keep Handwritten the prominent crease colour.

~STEP 5~

So now that I have the colours all on and blended nicely to how I want them – I then line my upper lash line with Skinny Liquid Eyeliner in black by Eyeko. This time I didn’t take this out for a winged cat eye effect as there is already a lot going on with the colours. Together with a few coats of mascara, lining my upper lashline will give the illusion of much thicker lashes. So from here I just apply my foundation like normal…

~STEP 6 – optional~

This step is optional. After I applied the my favourite Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus (which you could do to and then add some to your  bottom lashes and be on your way) – I wanted to make it a bit more intense. So I took my new favourite brush for under eye detailing – aptly named The Detailer by Hair and Makeup Addiction and use Red Brick again – placing it all along my lower lash line ensuring its well blended. Using my Accent Brush from Real Techniques I apply a small amount of Espresso blending it into my lower lashline where I placed Red Brick.

~Finish~

To finish off the look I add a few coats of Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus to my lower lashes and a nude lipstick (the names worn off it :() there you have it… I hope you like it I know it’s a bit different but if I always did the same look you and I would both be bored 🙂

 

Till next time xoxo

The 411 on the Smokey eye

Hello my beauties, hope all is well and your weekends have been wonderful sunny 🙂

Today I want to talk about the infamous smokey eye – well, rather the do’s, the don’ts and the don’t you dare’s which if followed, will help steer you away from raccoon eyed terror – towards sexy bombshell diva 😉

Now I think we can all agree the majority of us gals love a smokey eye and it’s the look I get asked to do a lot. When I’m asked to do this look it’s mainly because it’s popular, but also most believe it’s too tricky to do themselves. Another thing I think hinders people from trying it out is the misconception that a smokey eye HAS to be black. Well girls it doesn’t, a smokey eye can be done with many other shades that are dark – if anything I prefer using colours other than black. Anyway never fear…. like most things, the smokey eye just takes a little practice and patience before you’re a pro 🙂 

So before getting any further let me clarify that to create a smokin’ smokey eye 😉 you will need quality brushes (not the little sponge applicators that come in most eyeshadow compacts) to help blend the colours well and decent eyeshadow (keep in mind you don’t have to spend a lot to attain these). Excuse my bluntness but, if the eyeshadow is crap then you are going to look crap – the color isn’t going to blend, and if its powdery this will lead to extra fall out. So by the time you’re done you will have extra fall out and end up with eye shadow all over your face. Not sexy. 

So now let’s go through some mistakes women do when trying to create a smokey eye.

DO NOT DO THIS!!!

Putting black eyeshadow on your entire lid and bottom and underneath your eye and thinking that constitutes a smokey eye – sorry but NO, or rather HELL NO. Please refrain from piling on layer upon layer of black eyeshadow, instead slowly build the color up and in between use your brushes to blend, blend, blend, and blend some more.

 

Avoid using a selection of all shimmery eyeshadows. Dont get me wrong, I love shimmer  and when used on the inner corners of your eyes, it can really lift and brighten them. It is in my humble opinion that shimmer has NO place under the eyebrow or along the brow bone. Here using a matte or even a less shimmery eyeshadow that’s close to your natural skin color will highlight your eyebrows and will help blend the colors on a more natural level.  

DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT place the eyeshadow all the way up to your eyebrows. This just makes you look crazy… see poor Tyra below… If you feel you have placed eyeshadow too close to the eyebrow what you can do is to use a matte eyeshadow close to your skin color (same as mentioned above) under the eyebrow and blending down. Remember to keep separate brushes for dark colors and light colors otherwise you’ll look like 2 burnt holes in a blanket.

Lastly, harsh lines (this goes for any look) under your eye just make you look hard and unfeminine – so lets stay away from that. In the photo below you can see the bottom liner has not been blended, resulting in a super harsh line. What I would have done here would be to take a little blending brush (if you don’t have one don’t sweat – just use a cotton bud (Q-tip)) and blend the bottom eyeliner till it has a soft smoked out appearance. You can also applying eyeshadow that’s the same color as the liner over the top – this will help to both set it and stop it smudging down your face all the while retaining that soft smoked out look you set out for in the beginning.

 

DO’S

DO experiment with different colours for smokey eyes. Below is a great example of combining a fairly bold colour with black to achieve a smokey eye. Here a the colour is not only bold but it makes her eye pop so much more than black would. Also in play is fantastic blending technique which as you can see gives it that soft smokey look.  

 

 

In the photo below you can see how  Kim’s eyeshadow is placed under the eyebrow the right way. Just remember to use a matte shadow close to your skin color. You can also see how it helps highlight brows.

In the picture below Lindsay Price (more like her makeup artist) has nailed the under eye placement of liner and shadow for her smokey eye. This is how its done people! Keeping it thinner towards the inner corner of the eyes then widening it towards the outer edges.

Below is my personal go to smokey eye look. As you can see I make sure all the colours are blended together so they have an even transition and the shadow goes high up but not all the way to my eyebrows. I’ve highlighted my brow bone flesh toned shadow that has a slight shimmer in it and blended it down. 

Should I do a tutorial on this one? If you’d like a step by step on this look, leave a comment down below 🙂

So I this has helped in some way and made things a little clearer… and remember – its only makeup and be wiped off easily. So go practice and enjoy 🙂

XOXO

THE EYES HAVE IT

HELLOOOOOO my lovelies!

So today I wanted to talk about eye shapes. Why? Well as a makeup artist I believe that determining your natural eye shape is just as important as finding the most flattering colors for your lids and of course – matching your shade of foundation! Knowing how to apply eye shadow and liner for your eye shape, will help you better translate trends and techniques to fit your face. So read on to discover tricks for your eye shape – so you can make the most of your peepers!

Wide set eyes are usually more than one eyeball width apart. To bring them closer together you can:

• Use a  highlighter shade on the central portion of your upper lid
• Rim your top and bottom lash line with a black liner as close to the inner tear duct as possible
• Use a mascara comb to swipe all of your tiny lashes from mid eye to nose

Downturned eyes have a slight dropping on the outer corners. To pull the eyes upwards appear upwards you can:

• Creating a sexy cat’s eye shape (this is the perfect shape for it) to do so apply a liquid liner along the top lid and extend outward and upward at a 45 degree angle – this will create symmetry and add va-va-voom!
• Blend a dark shadow from the edge of the eye inwards to the visible crease
• Firmly curl the outer lashes and reapply mascara on the outer lashes

Close set eyes are less than one eyeball width apart.  To create the illusion of more space you can:

• Using a light eye shadow on the inner corners of your eyes – I suggest trying frosty white or sparkling nude hues.
• Adding an extra coat or two of mascara or placing some  individual lashes, 1/2 or 1/4 corner strip lashes to the outer corner to pull the focus outward
• If applying eyeliner, ensure it goes from thin to thick as you apply it from your inner to outer eye corner on your upper lash line and it extends a little bit beyond your outer eye corner

Deep set eyes are usually large and set deeper into the skull, creating the illusion of a more prominent brow bone. The eyelid can also look as thought it goes way back into your head. I would suggest trying to:

• Brighten up the natural shadowing by dusting on a beige or warm metallic hue on the lid (think peach!) this will help the eyelids to ‘pop’ open and bring the eye forward
• If you have this shape you will probably have a prominent brow bone, so, you can apply a contour colour onto here rather than in the crease.
• More than likely the ends of your lashes graze your lids, so, be sure to apply waterproof mascara to prevent smudges

Hooded eyes feature an extra layer of skin that droops over the crease, causing the lid to appear smaller. To draw the focus upward:

• Diffuse darker shadow over and out past the crease.
• Tight line the top waterline to intensify and enlarge your eye shape and thicken the lash base, which also can disappear under the lid fold. 
• Use a light highlight shade on brow bone and inner corner along lash line

Protruding eyes create the appearance of projected lids in the eye socket area. On the up side, the bulge gives you plenty of lid space to play with! To keep the lid from overpowering your look:

•  Blend darker tones all over your eye because dark tones recede space and size (pushes the lid back), smokey eyes work great with this eye shape.
• Apply thick liner along your upper lash line to further diminish some of the space.
• You can also use a slightly lighter shade for the crease, and blend outward towards the brow bone.

 Mono lids (asian eyes) are usually flat on the surface and don’t have much of a crease if any and the Brow bone is less defined. To create definition and the illusion of dimension on your flat surface:

• Using a gradient of eye shadows, dark to light. Shading the darkest colour the closest to the lash line, the soft neutral hue in the middle and the shiny colour at the brow bone
• Always curl lashes for a lift and you can add some individual false lashes for extra flare
• When lining your bottom lash lines, remember to smudge it out. But be careful – wherever you put darkness is where your eye is going to follow. If you only put it in the lower rim, it makes the eye seem smaller, but if you add liner to the lower lash line and smudge it out then it brings those outer edges forward, so it makes the eye appear larger.

This eye shape is often large, and open-looking – the width and height is nearly the same. Personally I think these eyes are actually quite adorable and can be quite beautiful if you use your makeup correctly: 

• Using a two to three eyeshadow shades apply the lighter eyeshadow from your lash line to your brow bone (your entire lid). You can also apply a bit of this eyeshadow under your lower lash line. Apply the darker shade in your crease and create a V shape on your outer eye corners. 
• Ensure you extend the color upwards and outwards until it almost touches the outer tip on your eyebrow curve at about a 45 degree angle. This will help in create an illusion of an elongated eye thus reducing the round appearance of your eyes.
• When using eyeliner I highly recommend tightlining your eyes and/or applying the liner to create a cat eye effect.
• When applying mascara, you need to put more emphasis on your outer third of your upper eyelashes with less mascara on your middle and inner eyelashes.

 

 

The best way I can describe am almond-shaped eye is very simple, the inner corner of the almond-shaped eye resembles that of the tapered point of an almond and rounds up and out to a slightly upturned outer corner. People of many different ethnicities may have almond-shaped eyes so:

• Feel free to experiment with different eye shadow placement, but a classic eye will always serve you well. Work with three shades and place the lightest shade on the inner half of the lid, the darker shade on the outer half and the crease, and the lightest shade on the brow bone
• Because the almond-shaped eye can pull off almost any eyeliner look – I would suggest for everyday makeup, use eyeliner to highlight that great shape. Put eyeliner on the outer half of the upper and lower lash line to make your eyes look large and romantic. Make sure to use light strokes and apply lightly toward the middle, getting darker and heavier toward the outer edge.
• I would suggest considering a more angled brow rather than one with a rounded arch. 

I put this together to help explain and showcase the different types of eye shapes out there and give some tips on how to make the most of what you have. You may even realise that you’re a combination of two or more (like me).

However I want to leave you with one final thought:

Cutting the Crease

Hey my loves!

When you think of cutting the crease – what celebrities spring to mind? For it would have to be Adele and Kim Kardashian –  as you can see below both Adele and Kim K nail it (or rather their makeup artists do ;)) – ranging from the dramatic to the soft.

 

Cutting your crease helps to really open up your eye and make it pop – personally this is my go to look for every day as I love how it makes my eyes appear bigger than they normally are. There are many ways to wear this look – for me I usually go more subtle. So I did a quick and easy tutorial for you – check it out and let me know what you think

~ Step 1 ~

Firstly I like to prime my eye using MAC’s paint pot in Painterly applying it with my Sigma P80 precision flat brush all over my lid and blending it up to my brow bone

~ Step 2 ~

Then taking my MAC 239 brush eye shader brush, I use a combination of MAC’s Ricepaper and Retrospeck  and apply that all over my lid.

~ Step 3 ~

Here is where I start to define my crease  – for this I use one of  favourite brushes by Sigma – the E45 small tapered blending brush. I find this brush is PERFECT for applying colors to the crease. The first colour I am adding to the crease is MAC’s Cork – using my E45 brush I apply it into my crease blending it out softly, using a windscreen wiper motion. Then repeating the same process but using MAC’s Quarry over the top. You should now have a nice light brown cut crease appearing. Depending on how comfortable you are you might decide to stop here and apply your liner and mascara – or you can follow my other steps for a more defined cut crease. 

~ Step 4 ~

Taking the same E45 brush by Sigma I apply Oktoberfest – from my Coastal Scents 252 Ultimate Palette – and repeat the same cut crease motion as in Step 3 – but as you will see the crease darkens to a lovely rich brown.

~ Step 4 ~

Again you could choose to finish it up here and it would still look lovely, however for me I wanted to add a pop to this crease so I chose to take Vibrant Red from the same Coastal Scents Palette  – and by adding that into the crease and blending with my E45 brush by Sigma, very thoroughly out into and just over the crease I get the colour effect I am after – a light red-brown combination which I believe helps make my eyes stand out (please excuse the uncombed brows).

~ Step 5 ~

Taking my E65 small angle brush by Sigma and Maybelline’s Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black – carefully line my lid, flicking it out only a little to create a suble cat eye effect.

~ Step 6 ~

I Finish off my eyes by applying a few coats of Maybelline’s new Volum’ Express® the Mega Plush® Mascara in blackest black to my top lashes and just one coat to the bottom. HEY PRESTO we’re done!

So don’t be shy – go and give it a go! Once you’ve tried it a few times you’ll love it I’m sure 🙂 So hope you enjoyed and I would love to hear any feedback – especially if you gave it a go yourself 🙂

xoxo

30 Day Challenge – FINAL WEEK –

Apologies for the delay my loves, I’ve been a bit sick this week so I was a tad behind in creating the last of my looks… However I’m all better now and have managed to catch up. Anyway – here I am, in the final leg of my self-imposed 30 Day Challenge. I will admit there have been days where I found it difficult to think of what to do or if I was going to execute it in time to be ready for work 😉  So I hope I managed to keep them interesting and different enough for you guys – let me know what you think 🙂

Day 24. I wanna be famous – Every now and I see a celebrity on the red carpet at a special event, movie premier, award ceremony etc that makes me think wow! Something about the look makes me do a double or even a triple take. I think these are my favourite looks to tackle mainly because it’s a challenge for me to copy or try a tricky style or adapt it to suit my eye shape. I know for a fact there are a few celebrities that are favourites for me but one that I just love is the ever gorgeous Mila Kunis – I love way she wears such luxurious browns and golds together and don’t even get me started on when she wears a smokey eye. So todays look was inspired by her. I hope I was able to do her justice.

1.  Primed my lid by using my faithful MAC Paint Pot in Painterly

2.  Applied All that Glitters by MAC all over my lid

3.  Using a mixture of Bronze and Mulch by MAC into my crease and on my outer “V” extending it upwards and outwards so as to lift my eye – all the while ensuring it is blended out

4.  Taking a soft kohl black eyeliner, I used Rimmel’s Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Eye Liner, line the top of your lid then using an angled eyeliner brush – smudge it out to soften the line

5.  Taking the colour Luna from the Sigma Resort Palette I highlighted my inner corner and tear duct

6.  Coating my top and bottom lashes with my Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus

7.  Finishing off the look by applying my new favourite lashes in style No. 1 by Lashes in a Box

Day 25. Contour – Made famous by Kim Kardashian (love her!) – contouring has become a common step in my makeup routine – however I have to say it surprises me that for a lot of women, contouring is often a skipped step. In my opinion when you apply foundation to your entire face, you are creating a blank canvas, making it critical to go back and add the dimensions back in. Technically, contouring is about shadows and light; if you’ve ever taken an art class you’ll know that you use darker shading to push an area inward and lighter shading to pull an area outward. So when contouring your face you use this method to help create the appearance of a stronger jaw line, more defined cheek bones, and a slimmer face or nose etc.

1.  Applied my new favourite foundation – Revlon Colorstay Whipped foundation in colour True Beige and ensure it is blended down to my neck with my Beauty Blender sponge

2.  I know where my cheekbones are and have been practising this for a while, however, if you are new to contouring I suggest you look in the mirror and suck in your cheeks – this instantly shows you where your cheekbones are

3.  Then taking your desired medium (bronzing powder/cream bronzer/darker cream foundation) with a flat-headed bronzer brush just slightly under cheekbones from the hollows to your ear

4.  Sweep bronzer in circular motions directly on temples. If, like me, you have a rather spacious forehead you can continue the contour along the hairline. You can also contour directly underneath your jaw line

5.  I then make sure I blend edges with my Beauty Blender sponge

6.  Finishing it off by setting it with my Ben Nye Bella Luxury Powder in Banana

Day 26. Bright times – For this look I chose some colours that I love, and think compliment each other very well. My look definitely created an impression around the office that day 😉 …

1.  Started off by priming my eye using NYX’s Jumbo Pencil in Milk – blending that into my lid and up into my crease

2.  Using my Coastal Scents 252 Ultimate Palette I took a bright sky blue colour and placed that on my lid leaving the outer “V” bare

3.  Then from the same palette I took a dark violet shade and blended that into my outer “V” and into my crease

4.  Taking a mixture of the blue and purple colours I used I blended that underneath my eye along my lower lash line sweeping it upwards in a cat eye fashion

5.  Taking Luna from the Sigma Resort Pallete I highlighted my inner corner and tear duct

6.  Taking Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Eye Liner in Black I tightlined my upper and lower waterline. Then taking Eye of Horus Liquid Define Liner I lined my lid

7.  Taking the Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus I coated my top and bottom lashes

8.  I then applied my new favourite lashes No. 1 lashes Lashes in a Box Lastly I take my Sephora Collection Glitter Eyeliner in Black and go over my black liner I created earlier

9.  Using my Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Eye Liner in Nude, I draw a line in between the top and bottom shadow separating the two thus creating a double line effect.

Day 27. Video Killed the Radio Star – I don’t know about you, but I tend to get a lot of my inspiration from music videos. Some of my personal faves that I look to time and time again are Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, and Lana Del Ray. I love that they range from the crazy colourful to the beautiful and eye-catching. So for todays look I took inspiration from the gorgeous, age defying, Jennifer Lopez – in her new clip “Live it Up”. In this clip we see her with a sultry smokey eye, a bronzed golden eye and a very out there mustard lip colour to a heavier sexy night-time look. Which one to choose? I went with the bronzed beach look. I love the other looks but this one just took my breath away – there is something about how luxurious the golden bronze looks on her eyes.

1.  For this I primed my lid and lower lash line with NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Bronze – blending it into my lid and up into my crease

2.  to intensify this look I took MAC’s Pigment in colour Melon and applied that over the top and then taking it down to my lower lash line

3.  Using a mixture of MAC’s Mulch and Bronze I applied that to my outer “V” to smoke it out and add some depth

4.  Taking MACs Power Point Eye Pencil in colour Duck I lined my upper lash line and smoked it out with an angled eyeliner brush

5.  Using my Goddess Mascara I coated my top and bottom lashes heavily – unfortunately I ran out of time so I couldn’t add any falsies to my look but if you can I would advise adding in some Individual false lashes as it will really open up the eye further and give the eyes that lovely soft fluttery look that Jennifer has.

Day 28. Pop goes the Weasel – there are many ways you can make your eyes “pop” but my favourite is to use a color that contrasts with your natural eye color. Now, some of you might be thinking “how the heck am I supposed to know which colors to choose?” NEVER FEAR! The answer lies within the color wheel! How you might ask? Well, all you have to do is locate your eye color on the wheel and the color directly across is the perfect one for you! Keeping in mind you could also use a bit of your natural eye color, or a slightly darker version, to bring out the color!

So for me, my eye colour is usually green but, as weird as it sounds, my eye colour greatly depends on what mood I am in, so when I am happy they are at their greenest. If you look at the colour wheel above you can see that for me my colours range from purple to orange and include rust colours and deep bronze’s. For todays look, see below…

1.  Primed my eye using MAC’s paint pot in Painterly

2.  Taking a MAC pigment in colour Blue Brown – I chose this colour as it is a brown but with a blue-green pearl to it which should complement my green eyes – I then applied that all over my lid and into my crease

3.  Taking a mixture of MAC’s Cork, Quarry and Smut I smoked out the outer V and into my crease

4.  Taking Luna from the Sigma Resort Pallete I highlighted my inner corner and tear duct

5.  Using my Eye of Horus Liquid Define Liner I lined my lid

6.  Finishing off my look by coating my top and bottom lashes with Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus and applied some false lashes No. 1 lashes Lashes in a Box – what do you think?

Day 29. Ombre –

This two-tone look subtly contours the mouth. A darker shade around the outer edge of the lip adds definition, while a slightly softer tone in the center reflects light and creates the illusion of fuller, juicier lips. In my opinion the key is to use two shades in the same color family. They should gradually fade into each other for a lovely ombré effect.

1.  The first and probably most important step is to prepare your lips. To do this I used my favourite lip scrub by Sara Happ  and then apply a nice thick coat of Lucas Papaw Lip Ointment (hands down the best out there – it is a miracle worker for any set of dry lips)

2.  I then applied a generous coating of foundation to my entire lip. Beware this tends to make you look super creepy, but it helps your lip to “pop” more and your lipstick to last longer.  

3.  Next I applied a nude lipstick (I chose Shy Girl by MAC)  to my entire bottom lip. Once it was well blended I went in with the first color. I chose to use a lip pencil –  Le Crayon Lèvres Precision Lip Definer in colour 49 Rose Corail – applying this to my top lip and using the brush that comes with it, blending it out softly to top centre of my bottom lip. At this point I blended the pencil out, adding a little bit at a time, as necessary, until I had 3 fairly clear colors happening on my lower lip.

4.  The next color I added was 55 Fuschia (same Chanel Lip Pencil mentioned in step 3), I covered my entire top lip, but didn’t worry too much about getting too close to the edge of my top lip since I’d be covering that area with a darker shade anyways. At this point I also added significantly more of the Lip Pencil – 49 Rose Corail as mentioned in step 3 – to the innermost part of my bottom lip (still using the brush that came with the pencil)

5.  Now, here comes the tricky part…especially since it looked like horrible before I blended it out. I added MAC’s Candy Yum Yum lipstick along the top half of my upper lip, again, I didn’t worry about getting too close to the edge, I blended out from that point anyway.

6.  The next step was to blend. Depending on how confident you are you can use your little finger or a lip brush even a cotton tip – I used a mixture of a lip brush and my finger to blend out only the lipstick until it no longer looked harsh

7.  Then using  the same lip brush (I gave it a quick clean) I blended and precisely shaped the outer line of my lip and further blended the fuschia with the rose colors on my upper lip.

8. Taking my Lucas Papaw ointment I applied it gently by dapping over my lip so as my lips would look nice and glossy. And that’s THAT!

Day 30. Lashtastic – its amazing how such a simple eye can be transformed by adding a pair of false lashes – natural or slightly dramatic. For the look I had today I went with a slightly more dramatic set than I would normally wear… what do you think? Too dramatic or just right?

1.  Primed my lid with MAC’s paint pot in Painterly

2.  Applying MAC’s Blanc Type all over my lid and up to my brow bone. Then I Cut my crease with a mixture of MAC’s of Cork, Quarry and Smut – blending it out thoroughly

3.  I then lined my lid with Rimmel Glam Eyes Professional Liquid Liner in black and flicking it out at the ends to create the desired cat eye effect

4.  Finishing off my look by coating my top and bottom lashes with my Goddess Mascara – then applying my No. 4 false lashes by Lashes in a Box.

SO! THERE WE HAVE IT! I made it, I completed the 30 Day Challenge – albeit a tad late, but completed none the less. I hope you enjoyed it and don’t be afraid to let me know what you thought or what one was your favourite.

XOXO